A Gathering for Freedom
by Sol21
Summary: A war on a planet far from the imperium of man, and a strange gathering of warriors to fight it.
1. The Fight Begins

**1**

I don't own anything in warhammer40k.

"Sir the orks have mobilized again. This time they are headed to the planet of Hybusa. The people there aren't part of the holy empire, but could be easily persuaded to do so if we assist them." Said a fleet admiral.

Another commanding officer jumped up,

"Sir! We don't have time to go and help a planet not of the imperium when we have hundreds here that are suffering. We should concentrate all our strength on fighting the agents of chaos and other enemies of man."

Supreme Commander Garret thought carefully. Both of his advisors were right in what they said, but the final decision was his to make. If he abandoned the planet they would crumble, and the orks would move into the side of the empire. Also if he did help them, other enemies would be free to attack and he couldn't send more men to help defend. He had to make his choice now, so he did.

"We can spare one legion to go and help them. Commander Hannon, I want you to take the 185th Elites legion to go and assist the Hybusi. Crush the orks and claim that planet for the emperor!"

"As you command high commander." Said Hannon, and then he left the room to his already waiting legion.

"Let us hope we are not to late to help them."

To the Imperial Guards worst fear, the orks had already landed on Hybusa, coming in swiftly and crushing many towns. The citizens of the planet had quickly made the 18th militia legion to defend themselves. Commissar Veers and Commander Vengal led them. The main battlefront was at the city of Saturn, on the river of Gems. This was the only way to the capital of Sol. The orks had attacked the city several times, and always been pushed back. The defenders used a mix of weaponry. They had lasguns, bolters, heavy weapon emplacements, chainswords, power swords, fission rifles, rocket launchers, and a large amount of out-dated but effective weapons. These were things such as sub-machine guns, assault rifles, pistols, normal single shot rifles, and frag grenades. They only had a few vehicles at their disposal. Most stolen from the Imperial Guard. They held 5 Sentinels, a pair of Hellhounds, a few Space Marine Land Speeders, and their pride and joy, 3 Basilisk artillery cannons.

Ammo however was a precious thing. They only had about 100 shells for the Basilisk's and about 4,000 rounds for the Land Speeders. The Hellhounds and Sentinels had all their flamers and lascannons. The rest for smaller weapons they had plenty of.

Commander Vengal awoke with a start in his tent. When he sat up, an explosion shook the ground outside. He jumped out of his bunk and woke the men of the Guardian Company. They all put on their armor and ran up to the walls of the city.

The orks were coming in a huge swarm. Thousands of them moved towards the wall. Vengal picked up his favored weapon; the historians called it an M1grand, and aimed down the newly added scope. The orks were about 300 yards away from the firing range. He looked up at the other companies running up to the walls. Commissar Veers walked up with his personal bodyguards.

"Hold the line." He yelled. "Fight for everything you have. For your families and for your planet!" The walls got quiet after he spoke. No sound was heard from the city. The orks moved up, now 100 yards away. Soon they were 50, and finally the front line stepped up to the killing field.

Vengal looked down his scope and yelled, "Fire at will!" The only sound many men heard was the firing of lasguns and bullet shooting weapons. Orks dropped like flies from the first wave, but kept coming. Some men set up some .50 caliber gun emplacements and opened fire. The orks dropped under the hail of bullets and lasers.

Vengal loaded another clip into his rifle, when he saw a swarm of ork stormboyz coming at them. He quickly gave out orders.

"Rifle up men! Take out those orks!" All of Guardian company opened fire at the sky. Many orks fell to the ground, but most of the shots missed and the orks landed on the wall. The 3rd line of defenders on the wall drew chain and power swords to fight them. Vengal pulled a shotgun from his back and blew an ork's brains out. Commissar Veers killed one ork with his bolt pistol, and slew two more with his power sword. Everything was going well, for now at least. While the 3rd line took care of the stormboyz, the rest of the men kept on firing.

Vengal looked out and saw some ork gretchins and tankboyz moving up to the wall. They carried many explosives on them to try and blow it open. The Hybusi opened up thousands of round to take them out. When they were cleared Vengal heard the ring of artillery fire, and saw some leman Russ tanks stolen from the Guardsmen open up. The shells hit the wall under Vengal, and while he blacked out the world fell under his feet.


	2. Hope

**II**

Vengal awoke a few minutes later. He heard the worst possible sound for the Hybusi.

"WAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!" The deafening war cry came from the ork horde's lines. Upon seeing the wall collapse under their artillery fire, the orks had begun to rush forward in a maddened rage. Most of Guardian company was still coming to from the fall, the rest of the men however fired as fast as they could, trying to keep back the invaders.

Guardian company rallied right in the breach. Vengal now issued orders to his sergeants and lieutenants.

"First rank kneel down fire when ready. Second rank stand behind them and open up. Third and forth ranks form on the sides, nothing gets through us! Fifth rank be ready to fill in on command." The militia moved into position. One rank fired while the next one reloaded. It was an endless hail of lead and laser. More volleys hit the orks from above with continuous fire. Orks kept falling to the rounds, but kept on coming. It seemed as if their numbers were limitless.

A large group of orks was about to hit Guardian company, when another loud sound was heard over the noise of guns. Vengal looked behind him and saw the four space marine land speeders moving towards him fast. The company jumped aside and the land speeders opened up with their heavy bolters. Some of the incoming orks were torn apart in seconds. The speeders went right over their heads though, and into the heart of the ork army. Guardian company stood in shock, as did the orks, all watching the daring crew of those speeders. Vengal was the first to react.

"Open up men, kill the orks! Fifth rank prepare to engage in melee combat." He yelled. Before the orks could move, they were gunned down on the spot. The rest of them charged forth with new rage, only to be met by more ranged fire. When they got close enough, the fifth rank charged forward with bayonets, sabers and power and chainswords to meet ork slugga boy choppas and chain swords. The Fifth fought to the toughest extent of their lives, but none of them could hope to match the orks in close combat. However, because of their brave sacrifice, the other companies and squads of the 18th militia legion were able to gather and move to the front.

Vengal saw the remains of the fifth rank move back to cover and duck. The orks got off one yell before all that were in the breach were silenced by the much louder sound of over 3,000 guns going off at the same time. The fresh men quickly took the places of the front line companies. Veers walked down from his place on the wall and looked at Vengal.

"Are you crazy Vengal? You could have gotten you and all of your men killed by staying down there! The next time you disobey my orders again I will have you shot by a firing team." He yelled. Vengal was about to say something back, but held his tongue. The field of battle was no place for a pointless argument. He looked back at a messenger boy.

"Are the Hellhounds ready?" He asked.

"Yes sir. Ready to cause a bonfire wherever needed." He answered back.

"Good. Tell them to move up to the walls, one on each side of the breach. I'm going to leave Goreskull and his horde a little present there."

"Yes sir." Said the messenger, and then he left to carry out the orders. Veers looked like he was about to explode with anger.

"Vengal! You have no right to order about my men as you please. Those Hellhounds are under my command and I say…" He yelled, but Vengal cut him off mid sentence.

"Forgive me Commissar, but I'm saving our home. So if you don't mind I would like it if you would shut the hell up!" That was the end of the argument because the two Hellhounds were already coming from behind them.

They moved up the causeways to either side of the breach in the wall. They got into position just as the land speeders flew back threw the breach into the city. The ork horde came streaming back towards them again. This time no one fired a shot. When enough of the orks went into and through the breach, the Hellhounds open fire, setting the land aflame with a sunset color. The orks themselves began to burn, too enraged to realize they should stop the charge right away. The militia standing in the way instantly gunned any of them that got through down. With the breach now covered, the men on the walls jumped up with a yell, and open fire once again on the never ceasing ork hordes. The horde just kept on coming though, through the storm of gunfire coming from the walls.

Vengal was just about out of ideas when he heard a wonderful sound. The ring of a Basilisk artillery cannon opening fire. It was like hearing angels sing to the defenders. When its heavenly voice moved across the field, a shell dropped down on their foe, turning them into charred corpses, bits and pieces, and absolutely nothing at all. The orks finally came to their senses and pulled back from the attack. The men of Hybusa cheered for their small victory to buy time to figure out a way to beat the ork hordes.

Several hours later, Vengal walked up to a young lieutenant for the ammo stock and death count.

"Sir. We spent around 3,500 rounds for the land speeders heavy and stormbolters. We have equipped them with some standard bolters just in case we need them again. The Basilisk's spent about 20 shells today, leaving us with about 80. Finally we have a rough estimate of about 1,500 men dead and about 2,000 more wounded," He said. Vengal was shocked at the casualty report. Worse than that was that they were running out of heavy ammo to cover their backs. They wouldn't have much time left if they ran completely out.

"Thank you lieutenant, you are dismissed." He said quickly. As the soldier walked away, Vengal looked up and saw comets fly across the night sky. Then he heard some of the men exclaim, as one of the comets started dropping straight towards the base. Men took cover just as it hit the ground. They looked at it, and saw it wasn't a meteor, but a metal drop pod. It bore a strange insignia on the side of it. A few seconds later, the side of the pod was kicked open by a large armored foot. The man walked out with a squad of similar looking men behind him. Their armor was black as the night sky, except one kneecap, their belts and the eagle in the center, they were bone white. Their blood red shoulder pads were white also on the edges, with a gold arrow on one and their symbol on the other. The lead figure put a finger to his earpiece and spoke.

"This is Sgt. Ashten of squad 13, we have landed in the targeted area. Report from all teams." He said in a almost mechanical voice.

"Sgt. This is squad 22 we have land also. No signs of resistance."

"This is squad 42. We are under attack from the Xenos. Send reinforcements if able!"

This shocked the lead man here. He switched to another comm..

"Raven 13. Are you and your man ready?" He said.

"Ready and waiting to dispatch the emperor's will." Said the other one.

"Then go! Strike from the skies brothers!" Said this one back.

Vengal knew by the voice, armor and training that they were looking at either their greatest hope, or worst nightmare. He and his men were looking at the champions that were Imperial Space Marines of the emperor. Vengal looked at the lead marine and spoke.

"Excuse me. Are you and your men here to help us?" He asked. The marine looked back with his expressionless eyes.

"We are here on the emperor's orders. We are to purge this planet of any Xenos infestation, and recover the holy relics." Vengal didn't recall any relics on this planet. Maybe he meant the ruins near the deserts.

"Well if you don't mind me asking sir. What chapter are you and your men from?" Asked Vengal.

"My brothers and I reside with and are the Ravens of Death Chapter. We are the blade of the Emperor." He answered. Vengal knew that this quiet little war on his home, had just become a lot more complicated.


	3. Invading the Ruins

**III**

The arrival of the Space Marine changed the entire war. Vengal soon learned, when they were done gathering that 450 out of 600 Ravens of Death were here and alive to help in the fight against Goreskull and his horde. Vengal also learned that the Emperor's high generals had sent the 185th guardsman legion to assist them as well. That was well over two million guardsmen to fight for Hybusa. All they had to do was get here to fight. They 185th still had about 4 days of travel left. The Ravens of Death got here fast because their fortress world happened to be close by. They had brought a few new toys for Vengal and his men to learn to use. They had brought a Land Raider Crusader, a Land Raider Redeemer, 3 Dreadnoughts, a Predator Annihilator tank, one Rhino Transport, and about 6 Land speeders. They had plenty of weapons and ammo, so they replaced the ammo for Vengal's 4 land speeders. The Space Marines also had 2 Terminator squads, each individual one with a combi-bolter and a pair of powerfists. Two of the Dreadnoughts had a twin-linked lascannons, and the other one had an assault cannon for anti infantry use.

The supreme commander of these Marines was a Chaplain. He was a high-ranking warrior with the Space Marines, armed with nothing more than a Daemon Hammer. Wherever he went he seemed to inspire the men to fight even harder than their best. When he engaged in close combat his opponents seemed to run the opposite way. His second in commands were Sergeant Ashten and Lieutenant Alexander. The sad knew was that they had lost one hundred and fifty marine to the ork hordes when they had dropped in. It was a decent amount of their men, but their deaths only made the other 450 of them fight harder. They were here to help the Hybusi, but they were also looking for some sort of ancient relic that was supposedly on here. They were preparing to move out to the old ruins to check there. Vengal and a squad of militia were going with them as guides. Coming with them were Chaplain Sicato Augustus, Sergeant Ashten, one of the Terminator squads, two tactical squads, a Dreadnought with a lascannons, a squad of scouts, and two assault marine squads. The Rhino transport and the Land Raiders were transporting them to their destination. The troops all loaded their weapons and made sure they were ready, because they didn't know what to expect. When the vehicles came to a stop, Sergeant Ashten open the doors. The terminator squad rushed out to secure the area, along with the assault marines. The other squads followed when the Dreadnought came into view from the woods. The ruin lie in front of them, it looked like a city to Vengal. He and his militia moved forward with one tactical squad led by Chaplain Sicato Augustus. The Land Raider Crusader armed its Hurricane Bolter, and its frag missile launcher. The Redeemer armed its firestorm cannon, both crews ready to unload at the sight of the enemy. Vengal's men were all armed with some sort of close combat weapon. All of them had a saber and chainsword on their belt, while they held in their arms bolters, lasguns, sub machineguns, and shotguns. Vengal was one of them with a shotgun. The Space Marines armed themselves with bolters, 2 heavy bolter, and close combat weapons like bolt pistols and chainswords. All were ready to fight inside these ruins, no matter what it was. They entered the ruins. Vengal's men turned on their helmet lights to see in the darkness. What they found looked like a war room. A large table in the center of the room where a map might have been placed, or plans draw. Vengal saw there were two ways out of this room, both leading deeper into the ruins. He looked at Sicato with a questioning look.

"We will take this way, you and your militia take the other." Said the Chaplain. Vengal just nodded then looked at his troops.

"Ok boy you heard him! Down the right doorway, meet up back here in one hour tops." He said. The two squad then went down their separate paths, with their leaders in the front.

Vengal's men went down their path for about 15 minutes when they came to another two way split. He looked at one of his men.

"Lieutenant. Take 5 men and head down the left. The rest of us are going down the right."

"Yes sir. Come on troops, lets check out that path." He left quickly with his men, and was consumed by the darkness of the ruins. Something didn't feel right to Vengal. It seemed like someone or thing was watching them as they moved even deeper. The sight of an ork Slugga boy coming down the right path broke his thoughts. It looked up and saw his squad, then just stood there. It came to and yelled.

"WAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Then it charged forward with a choppa raised high over its head. Its scream was cut short by the sounds of automatic weapons going off and pumping rounds into his head. If the war cry wasn't enough to alert the other orks, then the gunfire was because all Vengal heard down that hallway was the orks yelling their war cry in answer. The militia lined up, one line went prone, the second kneeled, the third stood, and the forth shot from in between the troops of the third line. Vengal put his hand to his ear for the comlink.

"Chaplain Sicato. This is Vengal. We might be a little late to link back up with your men. We ran in to a lot of orks. I sent some of my men ahead so if you find them, keep them with you. Over and out." Just as he spoke the last word the first orks came into view and he called the order to fire.

The Lieutenant Vengal had sent out, was just fine however. His men hadn't run into anything, so they hadn't reported. The hallway finally came to a dead end. It was a large room, enough room for two Dreadnoughts almost. He and his men were about to turn around and leave when they saw something jump across the room. Thinking it was an ork they readied their guns. The thing jumped across the room again. When it did this time one of the men shot a burst of rounds at it, missing badly. Then the shadow jumped across again, just going past the man that had shot at him. When it went past him, he was suddenly reduced to a mutilated corpse in about 3 seconds. The other men screamed in horror and started unloading rounds everywhere. The shadow jumped across the room several more times, each time reducing one of the men to a mutilated corpse that was still trying to kill it. Finally only the Lieutenant was left to fight it. He put his hand to his comlink, only to discover that it had fallen out. He looked up just as the creature jumped past him. He got one close look at it. It looked like a bug. Correction it was a bug! It had large black wings on its back, and very large claws on for hands. The Lieutenant started to scream, but then noticed that his throat had already been ripped out, and had been cut up into a mutilated corpse like the others, only he was still alive when it was happening. Then all went dark for his vision, and one last thought came to his mind. All it took for him to die was five seconds. He thought he heard the thing scream in victory, but he had too much blood coming out of his ears to be sure.

Vengal and his men had one advantage against the orks, and that was that the hallway they were coming from was very narrow. The orks could only come about 10 at a time, into a hail of gunfire. There still seemed to be no end to them though. They just kept coming in lines to die. When it seemed like it would go on forever, Vengal had a voice yell into his comlink.

"Get down!" It was the voice of Chaplain Sicato. Vengal and his men ducked, just as hundreds of bolter rounds came from behind the orks, tearing them apart. When they turned around to fight the Space Marines, the heavy bolters cut them down. Vengal and his men moved through the dead ork bodies to get to the marines when all had gone quiet. The militia linked up with the Marines, and Sicato called Vengal over.

"We found your men." He said. "They were dead, their bodies were mutilated beyond recognizable. It was to brutal for orks, and there were a large amount of ork bodies nearby with the same effect. I think we should hold our position here."

"Agreed." Said Vengal. Just then they hear another yell, and orks came streaming in from all directions. Close combat was almost guaranteed.

Vengal was standing with his back to a wall, with a ring of his men shooting any orks that came close to them. The rest were in hand-to-hand combat with the orks. One smart ork (if that's possible) threw a grenade by the ring of men. The militia jumped to avoid it, then got back up only to be engaged in melee. Vengal drew his saber, and cut one orks throat, while his other hand used his shotgun to blow an orks brains out. It was going well until Vengal was knocked off his feet and smashed into the wall, his gun flying from his hand. He looked up at his attacker and saw the terrifying sight of an ork power armored nob. He just stared in shock as it charged towards him, enraged that he hadn't died the first hit. It brought its power claw up, and Vengal was sure he was a goner.


	4. Reversed Ressurection

IIII

**Ok, I know people are reading this. If you are please review, any advice is welcome.**

"Oh crap." Those were the only words Vengal could think of saying at this moment. As the nob raised its claw, he closed his eyes and waited for the end to come. It never did however. He heard the sound of metal on metal, and when he opened his eyes he saw a daemon hammer in front of him. Chaplain Sicato had got here just in time to stop the killing blow from falling. The nob roared with rage from the human blocking its deathblow. It raised its claw again only to go flying about 20 feet from a hit to the gut. The sheer impact from the daemon hammer sent him through the air, when he landed Chaplain Sicato wasn't far behind. The marine and ork both gave yells as their weapons collided. Then a duel began between the two titans.

"This can't be good." Said Vengal. He got up to go find his gun when he heard something behind him.

"WAAAAGGGH!" He turned to see an ork behind him with his choppa raised.

"Damn it!" Was all he could manage before he had to dodge the huge axe. He quickly moved to the side before he spoke again.

"Damn, Damn, Damn!" The ork raised its axe again, so Vengal poked it in the eye. It cried out in pain and swung its choppa around. Vengal took out its legs with a kick, and smashed its head into the wall. When the ork hit the wall a small block moved aside to reveal a pistol. Vengal grabbed it and aimed at the ork.

"Eat this you green freak!" Then he fired the gun into it. The ork's head exploded, the round going through it and hitting another block on the wall. This block, a little bigger than the other one, moved aside also to reveal a large black and gold rifle. Vengal didn't notice it; he just fired at the orks with speed. Then he heard one of his men.

"That nob is giving the Chaplain a hard time." Vengal saw it too; the ork was starting to over-power the space marine. The Chaplain was knocked aside by the flat side of the power claw, and hit the wall. A squad of his marines saw this and rushed to his aid.

"For The Emperor!" They yelled as they ran to help their commander. The ork seemed amused by this and slashed out at them with his claw.

"Waaagggh!" When he slashed out with his weapon he killed a marine with each swing. Sicato got back up and hit the ork with his hammer in the back. It flew away from the combat into a hall. He ran after, yelling when saw it get back up.

"Die you Xenos!!" Once again hammer met power claw in a shower of sparks. Vengal then noticed his pistol had been knocked out of his hand by an ork. He dispatched it with his saber, and then saw the rifle on the wall. He ripped it off the wall and aimed. He was aiming at Sicato, but then he fell to the ground disarmed. Vengal soon found himself praying to the unknown, as he got ready to fire.

"May you guide my shots." The nob took one step forward.

"So that I may prevail over evil." It was now over the marine, looking pleased with its victory.

"Defend my home." The ork raised it claw up.

"And fight my enemies in and serve you forever." The nob started bringing down its power claw on the Chaplain.

"Burn the mutant." Vengal spoke as his finger moved towards the trigger.

"Kill the heretic." His finger moved to the front of the trigger.

"Purge the unclean, amen." He didn't notice, but someone else from afar was saying those exact words in his head. When he pulled the trigger he was blown back with such a force, it made a Basilisk look like a gust of wind. He was thrown from his spot into, and through the next four walls behind him. What discharged from the gun was a silver, and black mix colored, plasma looking blob. It hit the nob squared in the chest, and the next thing they he knew, it exploded, was lit aflame, and incinerated all in a few second of when it got hit. Vengal saw the whole thing and said.

"Son of a…" He never finished his words though, because his head came in contact with a nearby wall, and his world went black.

He heard a voice. That was clear enough, but he also heard whirring, like the sound of a machine working. He struggled to open his eyes, but he could only manage a bit. An almost mechanical voice spoke to him.

"It is not yet your time human. You are not ready for the tranquility of death." He felt something put its cold metal fingers on his forehead.

"Sleep for now. We will come when it is time." The last thing he remembered seeing is several pairs of glowing green eyes above him, and a battle staff next to his head.

When he woke up again all was quiet. He sat up and looked around. He was in a normal room, except for the hole in the wall he had come through. He picked up the rifle at his side, and noticed his saber was sheathed. He could have sworn he had it in his hands. Then he heard the sound of movement. He glanced around quickly.

"Whose there?" He asked. He was only answered by more movement. This thing was toying with him, or so it seemed.

"Show yourself or I will be forced to kill you." He yelled. When the creature did show, he wished he had never said those words. He was staring face to face with a black bug with golden outlines, like his rifle. It had two great wings on its back, and very sharp, menacing looking claws on its hands. On its belt it had many knives, swords, and pistols. It also carried a string with skull on it around its back. It looked at him with the gaze that would send Khorne running home to his creator crying like a little baby. Vengal readied himself to fight, when it spoke to him.

"You are the chosen, the servant of the lord?" Vengal had know clue what it was talking about.

"Umm I think you have the wrong guy. I'm Vengal, commander of the 18th militia legion of Hybusa."

"Hybusa?" It said. Then it seemed to smile behind a mask that covered its face.

"So that is what you humans call the outlook. Not a very fitting name, but it will work for now." Now Vengal was confused.

"Pardon me. What the hell are you talking about?" The creature seemed to just notice he was there again.

"You know of what I speak. One of the master's acolytes spoke to you before. He told you what to say." Vengal hadn't heard any voice talking to him. This thing must be insane. But then he remembered something in his head maybe it was a voice.

"Why are you here?" Vengal asked it. It seemed amused by the question.

"I am the guardian, the revenant, the last know warrior of the high lords. My kind were made to serve and to defend our creators with all our strength." It removed its chest armor to reveal an array of runes burned into its flesh.

"We sealed our oath by having these words inscribed into our body, so that we may always be reminded of that day." It put its armor back on.

"Now only I remain to defend this place, my brothers all died a glorious death in battle. Now that you are here though, you can realize your true purpose in this universe at my master's side." Vengal shook his head.

"Sorry buddy, I only serve my people. I'm never going to leave this place, so I have to be the wrong guy. By the way what is your name?" The bug's mind twisted in thought, as if trying to recall an old memory from its far off past. Then it finally spoke.

"My name. The master's way of identifying me. It was Nightmare. He named me after the things that entered his dreams every night, horrible things capable of destroying whole worlds. I must go now Vengal Savorath, but there will be a time when you will need me. Now take your men and leave this place." Then it vanished into the shadows. Vengal was a little confused but then walked out saying.

"I need to lay of the drinks for awhile." He climbed through the hole, and found a similar room. He went through 3 more holes, and came to the room the battle had been in. He was horrified. All around him were dead Orks, Space Marines, and Militia. Blood splattered all over the walls, weapons still grasped in fists. He looked around for survivors. He found one wounded militia underneath some bodies with a half empty pistol. The man had fire all but one round at Vengal yelling.

"You're never going to take me alive you crazy beasts. I'll die before I let you take me." Then before Vengal could do anything, he put the last bullet into his own head. Vengal got covered with the man's blood.

"What in the world happened here?" He asked himself. He gathered up tags, weapons, ammo and supplies and went for the hall that led out of this place. He took a right turn at the split and came face to face with a dead ork. There were about 20 of them, all hanging by their feet from the ceiling. Vengal screamed out loud.

"Mother of Pearl!! What the gak is going on here!" Then he ran the opposite way. He ran as fast as he could, every time he saw bodies he turned the other way. He reached the war room, and saw the doors were barred by a lot of metal crates, and stone blocks. He tried to move them but failed to do so, so he just hit his hands on the door.

"Hey!! Is anyone still out there? I'm still alive in here!" He heard a voice on the other side.

"Name and rank. We can not risk anything getting out alive." It was a space marine.

"My name is Vengal. I'm the second in command for the militia of Hybusa." The marine seemed to study this for few seconds then spoke.

"Back away from the door we are going to use some charges to blow it open." Vengal jumped away, and the door exploded. When he got up to go out he was met by a rushing squad of terminators. He dodged sideways and ran outside. He was met by the arms of militiamen. Vengal let the man take his weapons and supplies. He looked around to see hundreds of imperial guardsmen around him. Had they gotten here faster that they had thought? He looked around to see Commissar Veers talking to a soldier. He walked up to him.

"Commissar, what is going on?" The other officer exploded at him.

"What do you mean what is going on!! You and your men have been in there for over 3 and a half days and you ask me what's going on!! We have tried to contact you a hundred times. Why didn't you answer me?" Vengal looked down to see his comlink was smashed to bits.

"It seems I took some damage in there." The Commissar was furious now.

"What about your men? None of them ever came out of that place. The Chaplain and his men came out ok, but he said your men were still in there looking for you! He sent another squad of his marines in there to help, and that was two days ago!!"

"Wait. So your saying I have been in there for over 3 days? What about the orks?"

"The orks haven't attacked us again. With the Guardsmen here we will be able to crush them." Vengal saw the terminators come back out of the ruins, and a few guardsmen go up to secure the entrance. Something was different about this place; it had a grim feeling to it.

"Where is Sergeant Ashten? I need to speak with him." Just as he asked that, the marine walked up from behind him.

"Did someone ask for my services?" Vengal looked at the soldier.

"What happened in those ruins? After I went through those walls." The Raven of Death marine recalled some of his memory then spoke.

"We destroyed the orks with ease after the nob went down. The Chaplain decided to leave and come back later, but your men wouldn't leave you here. The stayed in there and that was the last we heard of them. We sent in a squad of marines to go find them two days ago, but then they never came out." Vengal was about to speak when he heard a screech. Everyone turned to see the two Guardsmen by the entrance drop down dead, with claw marks on their necks.

"Holy Terra!" Screamed Veers. What stood before them was a swarm of human looking creatures. They ran forward towards the defenders of Hybusa. Sergeant Ashten looked at them for a second then opened fire yelling.

"Zombies! They are our own dead!" Everyone that had a gun unloaded rounds at the coming dead. Flamers rushed up to torch their bodies even as they fell. When they were absolutely sure they were dead, Vengal looked at Veers.

"Sir with all do respect collapse the entrance. There is no one else alive in that place. I checked it personally." Veers for once saw the scene in his second in command's words.

"Yes. Blow the entrance! Make sure nothing can get out of there." Soon several explosions rippled the earth, and rocks and metal collapsed the entrance so it could never be used again. With that everyone there went back to Saturn, never to speak of this place again.

Inside the ruins, a fell creature waited patiently. Its task had started soon it would be completed. Let the others kill each other. It would just make its mission so much easier.

Please review people. I would like to hear what you think about it. Again any advice or comments welcome. No flames please.

_**Sol21**_


	5. In the Emperor's Name

In the Emperor's Name

Sorry for the delay. Please review if you read. I want to know what you think of it. Comments and advice/ideas welcome.

V

"For the emperor!" yelled Sgt. Ashten. He and his tactical marines squad opened fire some orks. The squad's heavy bolter manned by Brother Savros fired along the side of their trench. As they fired, they heard more bolter fire bark along the trench lines. The temporary PDF moved up to the lines still half asleep. They added their lasgun's fire support as soon as they got up to the line.

Commissar Veers moved up to the front line with his bodyguards. He fired his laspistol at an ork that was getting too close to the line.

"Hold The Line!! The Emperor demands it!" One guardsman chose this poor time to abandon his position, and flee. Veers saw that other troopers were starting to follow suite and going to run as well. He turned around in anger and shot the first retreating soldier in the head.

"No man leaves this field alive, unless he has done the Emperor's will!!" The other soldiers looked at their dead comrade, but then turned to continue opening fire on the orks. More of the green skins dropped to never rise again, but where one fell, hundreds took his place. There was a loud ring in the distance then, as dozens of Basilisk class artillery cannons opened up on the coming tide.

The trench line was split amongst the three armies. Vengal's 18th militia legion occupied the left side of the whole thing, armed with close combat weapons and their strange out-dated guns they held the line firmly. The Ravens of Death occupied the center, and took the brunt of the attack. Under the leadership of the iron willed Chaplain Sicato Augustus, they threw back every single ork that even attempted to breach their lines. Armed with their bolters, chainswords, vehicles and heavier weapons they slaughtered the green skins by the hundreds. Finally the imperial guardsmen held the right flank of the line. Led by the recently enlisted Commissar Veers, the guardsmen took the 2nd hardest hit from the orks. These men were from the 45th Skitari army. Their homeworld had been overrun from an attack by the Alpha legion, so this force was the only surviving men from the entire planet. They did get replacements for soldiers from the nearest colony of Skitari, which was duly, name Skitari Minor, since the original was destroyed. Out of the original men from the army of forty-five thousand men, only twenty-three thousand were still alive from their homeworld. A warp storm had delayed the 185th Elite from getting to Hybusa on time, so the 45th had answered the distress call.

The 45th Skitari was split on two fronts however. Commissar Veers had command of the replacement soldiers from the colony. Although some of them were less trained, they all fought with the will of a hundred men. The rest of the men were defending the riverbed farther to the east of the trench lines. These originals had fought hundreds of battles in the Emperor's name. They were under the command of Colonel Stormwind, who had been there with when their homeworld had fallen. He led his men to victory on every single front that they have been on. His men were known for their suicidal charges across plains of gunfire, and still being able to reach the opposition just to beat it off the planet or destroy it completely. His uniform was colored with hundreds of medals, ribbons, and awards he had received through his career. Him, along with several of his soldiers had been personally awarded the Imperial Laurel by high-ranking officials. The Colonel himself had earned it twice, along with a purple heart for the loss of his eye and last two fingers on his right hand in a crusade against the Eldar. He was always at the front line of the combat with his men, sharing the horrors of the battle right alongside them. His command squad was also spread out along the lines of battle, fighting right alongside the very men they commanded instead of sitting in the comforts of the rear.

Vengal fired his rifle into a charging ork's skull, penetrating it into and through the brain. With a clicking sound of metal on metal, the last round in his clip ejected and his gun was left empty once again. He managed to duck into the trench quick enough to avoid a large barrage of ork bullets others however weren't so lucky. Half of the men on the trench wall fell to the projectiles, while the other half fell down wounded. Their comrades in the trenches quickly dragged them to safety and moved up to replace them. The orks had come so fast that the heavy weapons hadn't had any time to deploy, which meant that the orks were barely being held back from the trench lines. Suddenly out of the green horde a wartruck appeared. It came storming on as hundreds of small arms fired upon it but failed to destroy it. Seeing its success the orks brought up ten more of them to overwhelm the defenders. The orks on the vehicles yelled with triumph as they plunged towards the trench lines. The defenders started to pick up and fire missile launchers at the orks hoping to score a lucky hit on the fast moving transport. Seven of the eleven trucks erupted into balls of flame half way across the open way, but the last four kept coming. Troopers Daniel and Henry got up on the trench deck and fired their plasma guns one of the wartrucks. The small barrage was enough to penetrate through the glass on the front and kill the driver. The entire vehicle and its passengers spun sideways and smashed into the truck next to it, destroying both on contact. As the heavy weapons finally set up, a burst from a few lascannons finally took down the other two trucks. However both groups of orks in the back survived and they jumped out right into the trenches, the trucks themselves stopped only after crushing soldiers Daniel and Henry beneath them. The orks quickly started hacking away at the militiamen in the trenches around them, kill several of them and creating an opening for the rest of the horde to move up. Vengal and the rest of Guardian company dived upon the orks with bayonets and swords, cutting down what few of them that remained, but the orks had done their damage as fifty soldiers laid dead. One ork however had snuck up behind a lascannons team that consisted of Private Tyler, Sergeant Ashley and Corporal Isaac. The Corporal was immediately cut down from the ork's choppa and the Sergeant knocked down when she turned to see the noise. Private Tyler had a chance to run, but instead drew his combat knife and charged the ork. The greenskin raised its axe only to be tackled back by the Private. The ork reacted quickly by backhanding him in the chest, throwing him off and away. It searched around for its weapon but turn again to see Tyler coming at it again. He quickly kicked the ork in the gut and punched it in the neck. While the beast was in a daze of pain, he stabbed his knife into the small space in between its eyes killing it instantly. The Sergeant did the only thing she could think of which was kiss the heroic Private. Tyler was just about to confess his feeling for her, when a shell from a looted tank ended this romantic moment permanently.

Vengal looked back at the ork hordes once again to see fifteen looted tanks coming up from the front of the horde. Some lucky lascannons shots managed to take out three of them, and one fell after several missiles hit it in the front. Vengal almost lost all hope when his comm rang out with static.

"Sir. The 185th have arrived! They are approaching now with reinforcements, just hold off until then." Vengal couldn't believe what he was hearing. They wanted him to hold of hundreds of thousands of orks with just this thin line of men. It was just unthinkable.

Then as if on cue, five Lemon Russ class tanks came from behind the defenders. The _Glorious Charge, Holy Law, Fist of Destruction, Imperial Eagle, _and _White Flag_ moved over the defenses and went towards the looted tanks. The ork's looted tanks opened up first, firing with three of their main cannons while the Guardsmen's five opened up at the same time. Four of the ork tanks went up in flames, but at the cost of the _Glorious Charge _and _Imperial Eagle. _The _Holy Law, Fist of Destruction and White Flag _continue forward full speed, opening up with their guns once again. This time only two of the looted tanks were destroyed, but two more erupted from lascannons and missiles. The looted tanks fired again, but the crafty pilots of the Lemon Russ managed to dodge the rounds and go right past the orks. The Guardsmen opened up again from behind, hitting two more tanks as they continued towards the ork lines. All seemed good until there was an earthshaking roar from the horde. The _White Flag_ erupted into a thousand little pieces suddenly, and from the horde came the towering figure of a Squiggith. The hulking creature came storming out with its fortress guns blazing. The _Fist of Destruction _and _Holy Law _both got off one good shot at the beast before they too were destroyed. The Squiggith took one round to the legs and the other hit the side of the fortress. The beast only seemed enraged by this, so it roared again and charged forward with the other tanks. Every soldier with a big gun unloaded at the tanks and the Squiggith, trying desperately to hold them off. Two more tanks succumbed to the barrage; the others only took scorch marks. The other three tanks came up to the trench line, their main guns aiming straight at Vengal's front trench. The militia braced themselves for defeat. When all three of them simply exploded as a huge shell hit them. From the distance the sound of a huge cannon going off sang through the entire area.

"This is the _Emperor's Titan_! The cavalry has arrived!" Vengal looked behind him and saw the glory of an Imperial BaneBlade. The massive tank came in; with all its guns firing full bore on the Squiggith. The monster staggered back from main cannon rounds smashing into its side, while the other smaller guns hit its legs constantly. Finally the creature roared again, just as a main cannon round fired. The shell collided with its open mouth, and silenced the beast forever. With that the _Emperor's Titan_ moved forward and started cleaning up the rest of the orks with the black clad 185th elite following behind. 


End file.
